1. Western Carolina University
Cullowhee, NC • Private
In-State Tuition
$3,926
Enrollment
9,835
An administrative office specialist, sometimes called an administrative assistant, has a vital role in making sure an office operates smoothly and efficiently. Organizational and communicational skills are essential, and almost every organization relies on qualified administrative assistants' skills to support their operations.
Administrative assistants must be able to communicate clearly and effectively. Very often, they need to be the voice of an organization. They deal with clients and help to solve problems or customer service issues. Much of their communication may take place over the phone; although, they may need to meet with some clients face-to-face. Other types of communication include customer letters to clients, contacting vendors, or speaking to advertising agencies on behalf of the company.
Administrative assistants earn a mean annual wage of $53,020, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics. But to be one, applicants must have a bachelor's degree or a high school diploma degree. However, a master's degree is sure to benefit in the long run.
There are certain skills that many administrative office specialists have in order to accomplish their responsibilities. By taking a look through resumes, we were able to narrow down the most common skills for a person in this position. We discovered that a lot of resumes listed interpersonal skills, writing skills and organizational skills.
If you're interested in becoming an administrative office specialist, one of the first things to consider is how much education you need. We've determined that 46.8% of administrative office specialists have a bachelor's degree. In terms of higher education levels, we found that 5.2% of administrative office specialists have master's degrees. Even though most administrative office specialists have a college degree, it's possible to become one with only a high school degree or GED.
As you move along in your career, you may start taking on more responsibilities or notice that you've taken on a leadership role. Using our career map, an administrative office specialist can determine their career goals through the career progression. For example, they could start out with a role such as executive assistant, progress to a title such as office manager and then eventually end up with the title accounting manager.
What Am I Worth?
The role of an administrative office specialist includes a wide range of responsibilities. These responsibilities can vary based on an individual's specific job, company, or industry.Here are some general administrative office specialist responsibilities:
There are several types of administrative office specialist, including:
Role:
Role:
Role:
Mouse over a state to see the number of active administrative office specialist jobs in each state. The darker areas on the map show where administrative office specialists earn the highest salaries across all 50 states.
Rank | State | Number of Jobs | Average Salary |
---|---|---|---|
1 | California | 4,471 | $42,559 |
2 | Florida | 3,199 | $31,879 |
3 | Texas | 2,704 | $39,936 |
4 | New York | 2,487 | $33,479 |
5 | Massachusetts | 1,642 | $38,251 |
6 | Pennsylvania | 1,626 | $31,935 |
7 | Illinois | 1,573 | $41,648 |
8 | Virginia | 1,457 | $29,651 |
9 | North Carolina | 1,404 | $31,560 |
10 | Georgia | 1,281 | $27,389 |
11 | Ohio | 1,245 | $32,269 |
12 | Washington | 1,122 | $42,523 |
13 | Michigan | 1,104 | $34,337 |
14 | Maryland | 1,067 | $33,499 |
15 | New Jersey | 974 | $34,918 |
16 | Arizona | 940 | $35,707 |
17 | Minnesota | 919 | $39,692 |
18 | Indiana | 876 | $28,972 |
19 | Colorado | 844 | $37,857 |
20 | Wisconsin | 829 | $36,545 |
21 | Tennessee | 740 | $31,121 |
22 | Missouri | 721 | $33,906 |
23 | Oregon | 646 | $40,132 |
24 | Iowa | 609 | $33,361 |
25 | South Carolina | 579 | $28,247 |
26 | Connecticut | 503 | $41,449 |
27 | Utah | 476 | $37,658 |
28 | Alabama | 447 | $32,994 |
29 | Kentucky | 411 | $32,262 |
30 | Louisiana | 397 | $29,397 |
31 | Oklahoma | 360 | $29,787 |
32 | Kansas | 337 | $35,378 |
33 | Nebraska | 321 | $35,936 |
34 | Nevada | 296 | $38,165 |
35 | Arkansas | 294 | $29,036 |
36 | Idaho | 286 | $33,618 |
37 | New Mexico | 261 | $30,500 |
38 | New Hampshire | 231 | $33,282 |
39 | Montana | 230 | $32,469 |
40 | Alaska | 220 | $43,788 |
41 | Mississippi | 185 | $31,514 |
42 | Maine | 177 | $34,386 |
43 | Delaware | 172 | $33,722 |
44 | West Virginia | 167 | $30,153 |
45 | North Dakota | 139 | $41,553 |
46 | Hawaii | 136 | $38,588 |
47 | Rhode Island | 133 | $39,311 |
48 | Wyoming | 116 | $39,691 |
49 | Vermont | 102 | $36,429 |
50 | South Dakota | 97 | $32,290 |
Cullowhee, NC • Private
In-State Tuition
$3,926
Enrollment
9,835
Stanford, CA • Private
In-State Tuition
$51,354
Enrollment
7,083
Muncie, IN • Private
In-State Tuition
$9,896
Enrollment
15,529
Philadelphia, PA • Private
In-State Tuition
$55,584
Enrollment
10,764
Bowling Green, OH • Private
In-State Tuition
$11,105
Enrollment
13,729
Allentown, PA • Private
In-State Tuition
$39,216
Enrollment
1,303
Baltimore, MD • Private
In-State Tuition
$7,900
Enrollment
6,404
Evanston, IL • Private
In-State Tuition
$54,568
Enrollment
8,451
Adrian, MI • Private
In-State Tuition
$27,124
Enrollment
2,035
Akron, OH • Private
In-State Tuition
$11,463
Enrollment
13,676
The skills section on your resume can be almost as important as the experience section, so you want it to be an accurate portrayal of what you can do. Luckily, we've found all of the skills you'll need so even if you don't have these skills yet, you know what you need to work on. Out of all the resumes we looked through, 27.1% of administrative office specialists listed customer service on their resume, but soft skills such as interpersonal skills and writing skills are important as well.
Zippia allows you to choose from different easy-to-use Administrative Office Specialist templates, and provides you with expert advice. Using the templates, you can rest assured that the structure and format of your Administrative Office Specialist resume is top notch. Choose a template with the colors, fonts & text sizes that are appropriate for your industry.
After extensive research and analysis, Zippia's data science team found that:
Some places are better than others when it comes to starting a career as an administrative office specialist. The best states for people in this position are Alaska, California, Washington, and Illinois. Administrative office specialists make the most in Alaska with an average salary of $43,788. Whereas in California and Washington, they would average $42,559 and $42,523, respectively. While administrative office specialists would only make an average of $41,648 in Illinois, you would still make more there than in the rest of the country. We determined these as the best states based on job availability and pay. By finding the median salary, cost of living, and using the Bureau of Labor Statistics' Location Quotient, we narrowed down our list of states to these four.
1. Alaska
$43,788
Avg. Salary
2. Wyoming
$39,691
Avg. Salary
3. Washington
$42,523
Avg. Salary
Rank | Company | Average Salary | Hourly Rate | Job Openings |
---|---|---|---|---|
1 | Minnesota State Fair | $39,378 | $18.93 | 28 |
2 | University of Minnesota | $38,318 | $18.42 | 63 |
3 | Caliper | $36,805 | $17.69 | 7 |
4 | The University of Alabama | $33,826 | $16.26 | 7 |
5 | MITRE | $33,261 | $15.99 | 7 |
6 | Virginia.gov | $33,228 | $15.97 | 51 |
7 | Metropolitan State University | $32,970 | $15.85 | 8 |
8 | Abacus | $32,683 | $15.71 | 6 |
9 | Brazosport College | $32,454 | $15.60 | 8 |
10 | Virginia Commonwealth University | $32,350 | $15.55 | 21 |